Sorry, PP. The feedback suggestion is a great idea, if companies are willing to do it.

My husband's company has been interviewing loads of people and almost everyone is super qualified but no one is getting offers because they're not expressing enough interest and excitement in the company. Honestly, it's pretty tough to sound super excited in the middle of a stressful all-day interview process.

Hey, what's a reasonable time to wait to email about a job I applied for? It's only been 1.5 weeks and they're a small startup so I'm expecting a delay. I just don't know if I should wait 2, 3, or 4 weeks before reaching out.

I think if you've had contact with someone at the firm, you shouldn't wait more than one week. But if this is just a cold call sort of application, a couple of weeks? I personally don't follow-up if I'm just sending an application to the general HR office. I feel like the "we get so many applications, we aren't able to respond to each individual application" is the status quo. Though maybe it's best to be tenacious and in their face? I personally am too shy for that, but I bet some companies like it?

Yeah, most of the job ads in my field say "only applicants selected for an interview will be contacted" so I typically don't follow up if I don't hear back after sending in a resume. But your field might be totally different - I have no idea!

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

Call me stupid, but I don't have a clue how to search for a professional job. I ended up in the mortgage industry by accident, and now I've been in it a few years and don't really know how to move on/up. I've advanced a lot within my company in a short period of time, but I don't know what to do now to find a comparable job somewhere else. I have a BA in English (worthless) and the rest of my work experience is retail and clerical student jobs - not even worth putting on a resume at this point, I don't think.

Do I need to be on LinkedIn? Do I need to stealthily ask around if people are hiring and hope that word doesn't get back to anyone in my company? I do not want to alert my boss that I'm thinking of quitting until I have another offer. I'm not even particularly in love with this industry and would happily do something completely different, but I feel like this is really all I know how to do.

There's monster.com, careerbuilder.com, and glassdoor.com to start with, ashley. I like glassdoor because people can rate the company. I usually look on mediabistro as it's all media-type jobs. And there's Craigslist, but I can't speak to how that is because I mostly used it for service industry jobs.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

I've looked on Craigslist, but the ads are all scams. "Get rich quick! Make thousands a month!"

Ever since I got my real estate license I've been getting things in the mail from brokers trying to recruit agents, but I am not a salesperson and I don't think I ever could be. The idea of being on commission scares the shiitake out of me. I need a salary.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to be stuck with my current employer until I die because I am too afraid to take any risks.

I have applied for a ton of professional nonprofit jobs advertised on Craigslist. I also look other places (here in Portland there is CNRG and Mac's List, Idealist is used rarely) but Craigslist is still used plenty. Might be a regional thing though.

_________________"No one with hair so soft and glossy could ever be bad at anything." - Tofulish

Applying for jobs is a full time job...I worry that I'm missing postings because I have to work. I really need out of this job though; I hate having to argue with clients about whether they still owe me money when our pay scale is so so simple (If I go to court for you, you owe me a fixed-fee, there isn't any hourly business). I feel like I'm being consumed by other people's needs and I at least need a steady paycheck to balance that. Ugh.

I am in the second stage of a hiring process for one of the jobs I applied for...no word on anything else yet.

_________________"I think I am going to turn into a chickpea." ~DakiniLove is like a pineapple, sweet and undefinable~ Piet Hein

I think if you've had contact with someone at the firm, you shouldn't wait more than one week. But if this is just a cold call sort of application, a couple of weeks? I personally don't follow-up if I'm just sending an application to the general HR office. I feel like the "we get so many applications, we aren't able to respond to each individual application" is the status quo. Though maybe it's best to be tenacious and in their face? I personally am too shy for that, but I bet some companies like it?

Yeah I just responded to an ad on their website. It was super unprofessional--they just added a blurb about the job to the bottom of their homepage and provided an email to send your application to! They're a super small company, like 5 people or something, so I'm sure they've got lots going on. Ugh, so hard to decide! I know following up and being persistent is the name of the game in startups though.

Ashley, do you know what field you want to switch to? I look for jobs on linked in but also on job boards specific to my field. Also meetup.com has a lot of professional field-specific and general groups for networking and those can be really helpful to find out what's available!

I still haven't heard about a second interview, which was supposed to be decided like last Wednesday-ish. I emailed the HR recruiter on Thursday, but no answer. I was supposed to find out either way... maybe the decisions were just delayed for some reason? Which would be fine. The not knowing is not fine. I need to redouble my efforts to find more jobs to apply for.

Ashley, do you know what field you want to switch to? I look for jobs on linked in but also on job boards specific to my field. Also meetup.com has a lot of professional field-specific and general groups for networking and those can be really helpful to find out what's available!

No, I really don't know what I want to do, and that's mainly why I've been looking to make a lateral move in the same industry to see if I like it better. I honestly don't know whether it's the industry I don't like, or just my employer. I think I could like my job under different/better circumstances.

Bah humbug. I still have not heard about a second interview... no answer at all to my follow-up email last week. And I responded to a job listing on a mortgage company's website at 10 last night only to be woken up by an email at 6:48 this morning that they have no such position open at this time.

I still haven't heard about a second interview, which was supposed to be decided like last Wednesday-ish. I emailed the HR recruiter on Thursday, but no answer. I was supposed to find out either way... maybe the decisions were just delayed for some reason? Which would be fine. The not knowing is not fine. I need to redouble my efforts to find more jobs to apply for.

In the meantime, being here sucks really badly.

I can understand this thing about not knowing it is hell. I was in the same situation for a month got a Skype job interview first and they told me that in two days they'll give me some feedback and I did not hear from them for two weeks until I sent a mail asking that even if there were bad news I would like to be informed about any updates. 3 days after that mail I got an answer back to see if it was possible to have a in place interview that week. I had it, it went quite good and fortunately I got the position. But during the moment I had no news I felt very bad, I did not want to talk to anybody, I did not know if I should keep doing cover letters and applying for other positions, or forget about looking for a new job and remain stuck forever in the same place which started was to drive me nuts.

I wish I could give an advice on what to do in such situations but I do not have it, just want to say that I admire your courage to communicate your situation because I really did not dare to do it.

I can't decide if I should apply for a job or not. It wants at least 5 years of supervisory experience, and I don't have that...but it wants a bachelor's degree, master's preferred, and I have a J.D., so I'm not sure if that makes up for it? I'm kind of paralyzed by indecision.

_________________"I think I am going to turn into a chickpea." ~DakiniLove is like a pineapple, sweet and undefinable~ Piet Hein

Apply! If you've got most of the qualifications and are reasonably sure you could actually do the job, the answer is always apply. Because if you do apply, the worst case scenario is that you don't get the job. Which is what will happen by default if you don't even apply.

_________________She eats a paleo diet, just like the whiskey-and-bacon-eating australopithecans before her. - annak

Biker boy had a meeting with the SVP of the department I interviewed with, but wasn't able to casually inquire about the status of the job. The posting is still up on their website, and the SVP did mention that he'd been travelling (for work) last week, so maybe they've just fallen behind on their ideal schedule. Which would be fine; I can't start a new job until 11/19 without giving up my severance so a couple weeks delay works in my favor (assuming I get hired!) But I do wish the HR recruiter would give me something to go on.

I didn't get the job at biker boy's company. My boss and my douchey boss-type person are meeting with the area manager tomorrow about getting my layoff notice revoked. At this point I don't even know what I want the result of that meeting to be. I harbor no illusions that it's a reflection on my value as an employee. It's just self-serving and panic-induced on ttheir part.

Soooo, I have an interview at my former employer (the one that let me go in July) on Friday. I was a graphic designer before and this position is for a copywriter. More pay off the get-go than I had after 4 years as a designer, and I'd be writing copy which is super awesome as I love writing.

So, um, wish me luck on Friday, because if I get this I am going to weep happy tears.

_________________Did you notice the slight feeling of panic at the words "Chicken Basin Street"? Like someone was walking over your grave? Try not to remember. We must never remember. - mumblesIs this about devilberries and nazifruit again? - footface